HAVANA: Cuban officials have held talks with the U.S. government to seek solutions to the blockade imposed on the Caribbean nation, President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a video broadcast early Friday on national television.

"These talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations," Diaz-Canel said in the video, which aired shortly before he was scheduled to address Cuban media in a rare appearance that comes amid a severe economic crisis and as the Communist government has come under increasing pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The address was billed as a continuation of a February 5 event when Diaz-Canel warned that Cuba was approaching a situation that would require "extreme measures" given the economic crisis, frequent power blackouts and fuel shortages exacerbated by Trump's imposition of an oil blockade on the Caribbean island.